This quick how-to guide will show you the steps to take with your firewall settings in order to play online. The ports you need open are the range 2300-2400 and 47624 all for UDP/TCP modes. Forwarding these ports enabled you to host a game of CC2 thru CC5 online as a direct connection or through www.gameranger.com

Grand Campaign "Push to the Volga" is complete. KG_Loki (aka CC_Infected_x_X) and I started this GC back in December 2016. I asked for a campaign already started as I hate beach maps. That is, attacking out of a small square against superior positions on day one. The campaign was on turn two of day one. We carried on from here until the end. Germans set to line and Russians on recruit and 15 minute games. Recruit gives the Russians more tanks and a handful of tanks in units that otherwise would not have them. We chose to view each others force pools prior to battle but not actual units chosen for the battle. We played over 300 battles playing for around 65-70 hours total over six months.

220 battles were recorded using Bandicam. They are available to watch on Youtube at Stalingrad Unedited. They are unedited and not narrated, just raw in game video.

German Plan

Grand Strategy - My strategy was to meet Loki's armour with mine in the center and move all my infantry units north around RO Settlements through Sculturny Park to get behind the T-34s. This flanking migration of infantry took days and careful planning that strategic moves did not get messed up. Southern strategy was to check the Russians in Grain Elevator and Southern Ferry Terminal. The southern area below Chuikov's HQ and Tsarista Crossing remained quiet for most of campaign after the Russians were pushed back to the Southern Ferry Terminal.

Armour Tactics - Russian armour was very centralized, in about five battle groups. Upwards of 20-25 T-34s in four of them and 30 odd KV-1s in the fifth. Any armour losses suffered reverberated throughout the campaign so I used them carefully. Brute force could not be used against the Russians for fear of a devastating loss of armour. I was usually attacking out of a box with limited sight. My tactics were threefold to beat Russian armour. First German armour would be grouped, sometimes five tanks parked side by side. This would overwhelm any single tanks spotted. Secondly, airstrike support was exclusively targeted on enemy tanks. Finally, all my attacks had the exit VLs in mind. I was never able to force a breakthrough with these tactics but I did force the Russians back very slowly.

Infantry Tactics - German infantry was far superior to Russian and more numerous. While attacking I knew my losses would be greater, and at times much greater. I learned quickly to run my men only to the outer walls of buildings, not to rush in. Once they got to the wall they would fight with grenades first then small arms all together. If I had them rush in, they would get mowed down by waiting Russians. The infantry fighting was brutal. One map in particular that was the most frustrating was Mokraya Mechetka, the northern most center map. I spent days trying to remove the Russians. The map favours defence with its deep gullies and a dry river bed bisecting the map laterally. Each gully had the steep slope terrain element which made infantry movement extremely slow. I ended up attacking from three different directions with three different units. Eventually the Loki just retreated from the map.

Russian Plan (from my perspective)

Grand Strategy - Loki fought a delaying actions most of the game. In the first couple days Loki retreated east quickly to ensure better defensive positions. These days are crucial for the Russians. If the Germans make a breakthroughm, there are no Russian units in depth to stop them, the Russians have only a single line of defence, Loki ensured it was not broken by the early retreats. Loki's armour was deployed to center of the map, in and around RO Settlements, Mamayev Kurgan, Shooting Range, Barracks Hill and West Stalingrad. Infantry units made up the northern flank. In the south a single Guards infantry unit held the Ferry Terminal for most of the game.

Armour Tactics - T-34s were deployed mainly in a static defence role behind natural obstacles and buildings. They had superior firing positions with their turrets already facing the proper direction. German tanks had to roll into their LOS and traverse to shoot. Loki's armour units were deployed to maps that favored long lines of sight and few buildings. Mamayev Kurgan is the best example of this deployment. I was disbanded two or three times attacking into this map. The KV-1s were mostly a deterrent for most of the game, they were used very sparingly.

Infantry Tactics - Russian infantry was sub par is most battle groups. Loki made the best of this ambushing my men. There were two notable ambush spots. The first being in the bottom of a gully in a trench. German infantry would crest the top of the gully hitting the steep slope element and get picked off by one by less superior infantry. The second ambush spot was within ruined buildings in the second room. As Germans would enter the first room blind, Russian infantry would pick them off as they entered. I dealt with this effectively with the tactic I mentioned above, it was still costly.

Lessons Learned

Russian Maxims are the top machine gun in the mod. German machine guns do not compare.
Panzer3 tanks seemed superior to T-34s, Panzer4 were not.
German ATRs would not perform nearly as good as Russian ATRs. Russian ATRs worked great against ATGs.
Russian T-60 and T-70s are hard to destroy. They would take many hits leaving crew injured but would not die until hit with sustained fire.
Stugs would get damaged in all encounters with tanks, ATGs and ATRs. Not a reliable tank. Most Stugs were gone by mid campaign.
Mortars were only effective at killing standing infantry. No ATG or open topped vehicle was killed due to mortar fire.

Steve McLaire has posted new screenshots of Close Combat The Bloody First. These are the first two screenshots since Matrix decided to restart the game on a new 3D engine back in July 2016.

Right away we can recognize classic interface features from the original games and some from Panther in the Fog and Gateway to Caen. What looks to be a new feature are the time stamped messages. The scale of each image could also indicate a zoom feature and definitely shows more of the battlefield than Gateway to Caen does. As noted in the screenshots this is a pre-alpha version.

Schnellemeyer has ported the Gateway to Caen explosion graphics to eight other versions of Close Combat. Its a small mod which only replaces the Effects file. It can be installed as a submod on top of other mods or overtop the default installation. Download the GTC Explosions mod for CC3, CC5, CCMT, COI, TLD, LSA, WAR and RTB. Check out the video below for a demonstration of the explosion graphics.

Dfox has created the Battle for Tunisia mod for The Longest Day. This is the first full modification to The Longest Day. The grand campaign covers the Northern part of Tunisia from November 1942 until May 1943.This mod features all new isometric vehicle graphics, new unit icons, new mortar units and many new sounds. All the maps are a blend of new, modified and rarely used maps. There is a brand new strategic map with four campaigns and seven operations. The mod comes packaged in an autoinstaller, after you run the EXE file an icon will be placed on your desktop. For more information please read the mod manual included in the installer archive. Download TLD Battle for Tunisia v1.0.

Southern_Land has been working steadily on creating new themed maps. These maps will potentially be used for the upcoming mod Winter War for The Longest Day. To get a preview of the maps and other details visit Southern_Land's Winter War post.

The Airborne assault into St. Germain has been corralled into the bottom of the map. I attacked hard and went for a disband only narrowly missing it. With one more minute the Allies would of been disbanded. My German BG now has even less ammo, defence may be the order of Turn 3.

21st Panzer Div attacked into Pegasus Bridge. Up until this turn most of the attacking has been done by Insano, now I get to test his defence. This BG has two 81mm mortar carriers, I took both into battle. In a 15minute game you can basically launch mortars the entire time. My deploy was very constrained and ended up with a traffic jam on the bridge. Insano took out one of the mortar carriers, a massive loss that will echo throughout the campaign for me.

91st Infantry Div attacked into St. Mere Eglise. This is a difficult attack map against Airborne troops with 57mm ATGs and bazookas. Progress was minimal which I expected and bloody. I gained the exit VL I wanted and could advance no further.

Turn 3 should see the Allies moving off the beaches I retreated from. The Bayeux area is severely lacking battlegroups for defence. Fox Green and Dog Green, both maps almost completely overrun and the BGs are mostly useless. In between those two beaches are Dog Red and Fox Red, both maps holding steady versus the Allies. I am predicting my defence will be split through the middle at Bayeux. No heroes were killed after this turn, and I have two more to add to the roster!

Captain_Insano and I started a Grand Campaign in The Longest Day. Insano is playing the Allies. The settings are 15 minutes, morale off, Recruit vs Recruit. The opening turns favour the Allies heavily. The Germans are surprised and unable to make strat moves and are fielding very weak battle groups, some of which only have 10 teams maximum. My goal with turn one was only to inflict as much casualties as possible and hold my exits.

Insano's paratroops were outmatched at La Fiere Causeway. Landing in the swamp, I surrounded their deploy with light tanks, machine guns and an infantry gun and eventually disbanded them. Insano made advances on most beach maps and some of the airborne maps, I conceded large swaths of those maps in favour of a defence farther back with ambushes set up. I retreated from Tare Green, Uncle Red, Arromanches, Juno and Sword beaches at the conclusion of turn one. These units are not fit for further combat and will act only to delay until they are completely dissolved. There are some large gaps in my defence line at the beginning of turn two which should lead to some chasing and trapping maneuvers. 81mm mortars played a huge role in the opening turn inflicting 137 casualties, 112 of those deaths. Here are the results and two heroes!

The Great War mod for Close Combat 3 The Russian Front has been cleaned up. This was done in part to standardize the downloads section and make mods easier for players to install. File naming standard has been applied. Duplicate and obsolete files removed. All custom campaigns, operations and battles that were made since Great War came out have been added to the main plugin. The maps required for those scenarios have been added to the map pack. The scenario readme.txt files have been added to the main readme.txt file. Diggin' Robat's French and British music sound mods have been converted to plugin as wells as Pops' music mod. For anyone new to installing plugins refer to the install guide linked below.

Tim's old site The Dugout still exists. Its one of the oldest Close Combat sites still maintained. All original Great War files can be downloaded from The Dugout. Tim also hosts the CC2 Great War mod.

Direct fire mortars are the most effective way for suppression and killing enemy teams with mortars. Having your mortar teams numbered for quick access will also assist in hitting your opponent fast. In the video below you will see how fast I can bring down fire on out in the open running troops. The enemy team is wiped out. I assigned the mortar team 1 by pressing CRTL+1. The input sequence of my firing is 1, v, left click, m.

Direct fire has one huge disadvantage. The team will give their position away either by rifle fire or the graphic of the mortar firing. In some versions of Close Combat the supporting members of the team will engage with their rifles. In the direct fire role you must be prepared to defend your team, they are too valuable to lose.

81mm mortar teams are mobile but move very slowly and have a long setup time. Using these teams for direct fire is usually a bad idea. The 60mm mortar teams are much more mobile and have a quicker setup time. They can follow an advance and bring down fire for your assaulters. There are 120mm mortars that are mobile, but moving them is as painful as moving a 17pdr ATG. Other mods have the 120mm mortars set as static units unable to move. If you decide to use direct fire, always ensure you check the mortars minimum firing distance!

Have you taken an absence from Close Combat? You may have some old campaigns in your save folder with opponents still out there ready to pick up the torch. Here are some easy checks you can make when you enter the strategic screen to get back into things. You wouldn't of overlooked them when you were playing regularly, but they are easy to forget when you'v been gone awhile. Follow the steps to get back into the groove and possibly gain a surprise advantage over your opponent.

Pre Battle Verifications

1. Check the weather. Bad weather can create muddy terrain.
2. Check composition of enemy battle group. If its infantry, leave the ATGs and Panzershrecks at home.
3. Open the map preview and check to see which road exits you own. Trace your supply line back to a friendly depot.
4. Cycle through the dates to find out what reinforcements are deploying and how much time is left in the campaign.
5. Check the time of day, and if its night. If its the last round of battles for the day use your support or lose it!
6. Check your units level of supply. Ammo, Fuel, Fatigue and Cohesion. The latter two for the rereleases.

On March 23 Platoon_Michael and I decided to have a classic Battle of the Bulge grand campaign. 15 minute games with morale on, Michael playing as Germans. Neither of us had played CC4 in awhile, let alone made it any significant progress playing out the grand campaign in the last few years. Starting the game, the force strength bar was in his favor but I like an underdog fight and I knew most battles I would be fighting to survive. In fact, the very first battle I was disbanded by a German group with Panthers at Simmerath.

During the opening days of the campaign as Allies my hands were tied. I was fighting with many under strength battle groups without armour and very little anti-tank weapons. I was facing German groups that could field five Panther tanks turn after turn. My Southern flank was crushed. The German spy network was working overtime to completely screw my chances at countering his drive in the South. Turn after turn all my units were redirected which also resulting in other units getting stuck behind the front line. The spy network was so effective that Bastogne fell without a fight, I couldn't get any of my units in there for a defence, a massive victory for Michael. On December 19th, the spy network was no longer operating and I now I can attempt to clean up the mess.

One aspect of CC4 that was the bane of its existence was the locked forcepools. So many of us shunned it back in 1999 due to that, it was a huge change from The Russian Front. Now however, locked forcepools are something I can appreciate. Combine this aspect with a 15 minute timer and morale turned on you can easily get up to five games completed in one hour! The extremely small maps also help keep up the fast paced nature of CC4. There are very little options for defence. The maps are only a couple hundred meters wide, you are literally dropped into a cage and must fight for your survival. The fights a very lethal and the stakes are multiplied by having morale on.

Relearning the units combat qualities was also costly. The German Infantry Gun carries a ton ammo, is mobile and has a very high rate of fire. I found this out at Wardin on December 18th. Watch this video at the 3:45 mark. I was not prepared to counter that unit and it steamrolled my infantry. During the next battle on December 19th, all my infantry teams focused on it with small arms fire and the gun went down very slowly, only after the outcome of the battle was decided. German flamethrower teams are another unit that is hard to face. These teams also have a high rate of fire but less killing per shot that we are used to in CC5. You cannot engage these units in house to house combat. They are not easily suppressed either.

American antitank weapons like the 57mm antitank gun and bazooka are effect vs all armour and vehicles. However, head on vs Panthers both Allied units will lose. Side and rear shots are required for more than damaging hits. If you are cut off from supply, the 57mm guns will expend all ammo very quickly.The size of the maps limit your ability to get beside or behind a Panther. Sherman 76mms and M10s will also have a tough time head on vs the Panther. Multiple tanks vs one Panther is effective in the sense that they will knock out the combat effectiveness of the Panther, but not destroy the tank. Over and over again I see Michael pulling a Panther back due to losing its main gun or too many crew members.

I am recording each battle of the GC, this will be the first and only complete grand campaign uploaded to Youtube to date. We are 62 battles in with about nine hours of total play time. We are currently on December 20th Evening about to make strategic moves. We have both had our days of defeats and days of victory. One thing the Allies do not have are any heros with huge kill counts. Attrition is extremely high and most of my men do not survive more than two or three battles.

MOOXE

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In August of 2004, Zappi, Homba, Bambam887, RedScorpion and MOOXE all pitched
in to create this Close Combat site. I would to thank all the people who have visited
and found this site to thier liking. I hope you had time to check out some
of the great Close Combat mods and our forums. I'd also like to thank
all the members of our volunteer staff that have helped over
the years, and all our users that contributed to this site!